How I Planned a Romantic Summer Staycation

Summer is here and many of us are daydreaming of a romantic getaway in the beaches of Bahamas or Hawaii. However, between the towering cost of flights and hotels during summer, staycationing maybe your next best alternative! Why not spice up your date night (or two) and plan for a romantic staycation that you and your partner will remember?!First, what is a staycation? Urban Dictionary defines it as "a vacation spent close to home". For me, a staycation is doing everything I would do on a vacation minus the plane ride! While some create an oasis in their own home, I prefer to stay at a local hotel or resort.Also, if you're looking for an excellent date night activity, check out why you should go to the drive-in movie, tips for drive-in movie newbies and drive-in movie must-haves!Here are the steps I took in planning our romantic summer staycation!Why Staycation is AwesomeAs exciting as is it to take vacations, the amount of time and effort to travel can be very daunting. Not to mention the cost. If planned right, a staycation can be just as fun and memorable! Also, it gives you a reason to finally explore sites locally that you've been wanting to visit. Staying local gives you the maximum relaxation you need by skipping the long airport wait and long hours of driving! Lastly, staycationing costs only a fraction compared to a regular vacation.Define What You Want We all have different ideas in what makes an excellent vacation. Some love the adventure like hiking and snorkeling while others just want the RnR, lounging on the beach and getting a massage. The best first step in planning your romantic staycation is knowing what both you and your partner want to get out of this trip.For my husband and I, we just wanted to relax and pamper! Something low-key!Stay in Town or Drive to the Neighboring TownsI considered 3 different cities within 50 miles for this staycation and researched the things we can do in each city that we're both interested in. Initially, I wanted to go to a wine country and do some wine tasting but later decided to stay locally in Sacramento. Since our goal for this staycation was to get a lot of rest, relaxation and pampering, staying locally was our best option.Plan an ItineraryResearch all the spots you want to visit and create an itinerary! Since RnR was our goal, I booked a visit to a nearby urban bathhouse with a couple's massage and a pedicure after. There are plenty of things in your city that you haven't done, explore and be a local tourist!  As for dinner, we opted for a delivery!Be a Local TouristDo something touristy (or not) in your city that you haven't done yet! Maybe visit your local museum, or dine at a restaurant you haven't been to before. Also, check out a summer concert in the park.Spice it UpBring a bottle of wine or make your own cocktail to enjoy after hours! Put some music on and dance the night away! Other couples bring a deck of cards or board games, some meant to be played behind closed doors. This is your night to celebrate each other, plan on making it memorable!For this romantic staycation, I made a small charcuterie board to pair with a bottle of wine and a movie!UnplugPut your phones away unless necessary! I know with all our social media notifications calling us every few minutes, it's hard to completely unplug! Take this time to have a silly (or meaningful) conversation with your partner! Rekindle your relationship and give each other your undivided attention.Here is the itinerary for our Romantic Summer StaycationDay 1We stopped by at the local library to get some books and magazines to take with us. There was a pile of past issue magazines that were on sale for $0.25 each. Marlon and I each bought 2 magazines.After the library, we stopped by our favorite lunch spot at Jack's Urban Eats and shared a hefty plate of steak and mash with a side of mac and cheese.After lunch, we took a short trip to the grocery store to get some snacks, wine and cheese. I planned on making a cheese platter for us to enjoy for the night! After all the stops, we drove straight to our hotel "The Greens Hotel". Our last stay at this hotel inspired me to write about staycations and it's only fitting for us to come back here for the occasion!Hitting the pool is one of the best ways to beat the summer heat! We were lucky to have it to ourselves this day! We swam a few laps, took a sip of Rosé and lounged to read our magazines.To make our staycation a little special, I made a small cheese plate to pair with a bottle of Rosé with gouda, provolone, salami, crackers, honey, raisins and nuts.Later on, we ordered dinner and enjoyed it in the courtyard! The cool breeze and this charming area made for an excellent romantic dinner! We capped off day 1 by watching a movie!Day 2Working in a bakery means waking up at 2 AM, so getting up at 10 AM is a lovely staycation treat for me! After checking out, we took a quick pastry and coffee stop at Paris Baguette. Passion is when you still get excited about visiting other pastry shops when you've owned and worked for one! It was my candy store! Marlon and I shared a cruffin, ham and cheese brioche and a guava turnover with a hazelnut iced coffee!The next on our itinerary was visiting Asha Urban Baths. As mentioned on their website, Asha Urban Baths is a modern, cultural fusion of the old-world bathhouse. It's a center for rejuvenation also offering massage services and yoga classes.Inside are a steam room, sauna, warm pool and cold plunge. After a shower, guests are encouraged to start at either the steam room or sauna, then plunge into the cold pool (after a shower) and then lounge in the warm pool and repeat the process as much as you want. We stayed here for almost 3 hours! What I enjoyed most about our experience was the meditative environment. Marlon and I live a very active life. Between working, running this blog and running other businesses, slowing down and having a quiet afternoon was exactly what we needed. Asha Urban Baths is now our favorite date night activity!Pampering day just isn't complete without a pedicure! After Asha Urban Baths, we drove to a nail salon nearby!Our staycation was coming to an end! We capped off our night by enjoying dinner and watching the NBA Finals Game 3 with our family!Marlon and I shared a wonderful time slowing down and focusing on us during this staycation! We shared plenty of laughs and conversation about our dreams, future, mistakes and basketball! I hope you found some inspiration here in planning your next romantic getaway! Cheers!Also check out my other date night ideas here!